


Cheiloproclitic

by endgame



Category: Messiah Project - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-07 00:42:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4242963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endgame/pseuds/endgame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haku helps Eiri keep quiet in the library.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cheiloproclitic

**Author's Note:**

> Set inbetween Eisei and Hisui.

Sometimes their missions brought them to different locations than the usual. Today wasn't a day of backalleys or high level security buildings, but instead the two of them had found themselves in a public library. It was all very simple, honestly - if it wasn't for the size of the library itself, it wouldn't even have required two people on the case. All they had to do was keep an eye on a person Sakura was trying to gather more information on as he'd show up.

.. except that person never got there to begin with. And although they had already sent a message about that much back to the headquarters, they still found themselves in the library rather than returning back immediately.

The reason? Haku squatting in front of one of the bookshelves to be able to look at the lower part, staring at the books in fascination. His fingers run over the spines, as if he'd be able to take in the titles better that way, absorb them into his very being. Although a candy store might be more exciting to Haku than it might even be to most kids, this is coming pretty close to that as well - the colorful backs jump out at him with the promise of things he's never read before, stories that have never crossed his mind.

It's much different from the Church, where every book has passed his hands at least thrice already. Where every meaning of every word has already been turned over thrice in his mind, and where he's already tried reading the chapters out of order or reading the books upside down just to try and trick his brain into thinking it's something new.

He'd love to take back even just one of these books, just something to shake up the monotony of the ones he's already read - books are a good distraction after all, a distraction from loneliness, a distraction for when you want to forget yourself, a distraction for when you don't want to pay attention to another person out of fear of attachment - but he knows he can't. They don't have existing names, they don't have identities. Let alone library cards.

But Haku has figured that if he can sit here for just a while longer, he might be able to delude himself for a little bit with the promise of something new that'll never come.

"Haku."

Eiri, however, has never been very fond at letting him indulge in that sort of thing.

"How long are you going to sit there and stare at those? We have to go." His voice isn't too forceful, but there's still a vague sense of urgency in it. It's very much like Eiri, Haku thinks, picking up on the tone without even having to look up (for once) at the other. Eiri who always is so eager to do everything right, who had tried from the very first day to be the perfect example for the new cadets. Eiri was never late for meetings unless Haku caused it.

"A while."

Haku knows very well that the answer isn't helpful in the slightest, but at least it's not a lie. He doesn't like lying to Eiri anymore, doesn't feel like shoving him away. The gaping void of Souma and Shuusuke's graduation had only pushed the two closer to each other - if he couldn't trust Eiri, and Eiri couldn't trust him, then who could they rely on in this world?

" _Haku._ " A little more pressing this time.

Enough to make him actually look at the other this time, at least, even if his voice is completely devoid of the urgency in Eiri's own. "What?"

Eiri does that typical thing he always does with his face - Haku knows it all too well - when he gets annoyed. His nose wrinkles a little, his eyebrows draw together, almost as if he's getting ready to let out some sort of really impressive bark. (A judgement not too far from reality.) "We have to go."

"You just said that."

"That doesn't change anything about the fact!"

Haku's eyesbrows rise a little, his expression utterly and truly genuine, despite his usual teasing habits. "But I'm not ready yet."

An odd half-choked noise escapes Eiri, and Haku already knows what's going to follow a split second before any of the other people in the library do. Maybe this is what people feel like who are watching a traffic accident about to occur from a safe distance, Haku thinks, and before the thought has even left his head--

"What does that have to do with anything?! You can't just laze around here like that!"

Eiri's voice - as always - is so loud that it might as well be the verbal equivalent of a traffic accident or the eruption of a volcano as far as the silence in the library is concerned. Haku can spot heads turning out of the corner of his eye, and he knows that while he could watch this forever (Eiri's tantrums are much more rare these days, and he knows it's just happening right now because he feels tense over the fact that they couldn't find out a thing here, which is in the eyes of someone as focused on success and doing your best as much as Eiri is the same thing as failure), Haku is at least socially aware enough to know that most other people can't.

"It's not even like you're reading them, you're just looking at them! It's totally useless like this, so why don't you just li--"

That's why halfway through the sentence, Haku's already moved to stand up, grabbing Eiri by the wrist and pulling him a little more towards the side to where they're sheltered on both sides by bookshelves rather than just one. It shuts the shorter man up in surprise, and he blinks at Haku like he's trying to realise what just happened. Or rather, what he just did and what other people might have thought of it, and for a moment Haku can almost see something like shame flash across his eyes. Eiri's always been worse at hiding those things than him.

His Messiah's gaze slides off to the side (another one of those signs) before he folds his arms defensively across his chest, moving to lean with his back against the bookshelf stationed against the wall. "I'm just saying.. it's going to look weird if we don't show up again soon. Don't cause trouble."

Haku doesn't answer for a moment. He's too busy staring at those telltale signs, looking at every part of Eiri's expression. Eiri makes a lot of interesting faces - he's always thought that from the moment he met him - but his lips always make interesting shapes too. It's very different when he's just talking or yelling, but there's always a distinct quality to them once he gets like this. When Eiri realises his own mistakes, they get a little pouty, curling down at the sides. (Haku's already catalogued every single piece of Eiri's expressions into his head individually many times before.)

Some people might call it a lack of self control, but a moment later Haku is leaning forward, hands falling for support against the books on the bookshelf behind, a little off from both sides of Eiri's head so he can lean down without falling over.

"Eiri. Relax."

He does start a protest - like expected - but the noise dies against Haku's lips that are promptly pressed against the other's. Haku's tongue sneaks out of his mouth, tracing the outlines of those pouty lips.

(Even if Haku can't deny that it's partially because it's just so damn hard to not be fascinated and drawn in by the way Eiri's face constantly moves, it's not like it's all just because he feels like it - he's found over the past few months that it really does calm Eiri down more than it aggravates him these days, not to mention that it's much easier to solve these sort of matters non-verbally when they're stuck in a place they can't speak loudly.

And, let's be real, there's not a whole lot of other options in the world to finally make Kaidou Eiri of all people shut up.)

Eiri's body seems awfully rigid against that bookshelf for a few moments, hands forming fists at his sides like he doesn't quite know what to do with them before they hesitantly move up, resting against Haku's chest. He knows very well they're lingering there with every power in them to shove him away - Haku wouldn't resist if they did. But instead they just rest there, slowly uncurling as Eiri's body grows a little less frozen in place.

The process comes with the added extra of Eiri's lips parting slowly, enough to provide entrance for Haku's tongue. It's an invitation he'd never turn down; a moment later he's already exploring the insides of his Messiah's mouth.

It's not the first time he'd done it, but it's so much of an experience every single time that it keeps feeling new. Eiri is never one to passively accept what's happening to him - Haku knows of his desire to be in control, to be the lead. Sometimes he lets him, especially when he's feeling particularly lazy. But on other days it almost turns into a battle, the way Eiri's tongue curls around his own so fiercely, causing wet sounds that seem to echo in Haku's mind loud enough that it feels just about as noticable as setting off fireworks in the middle of the library.

(Someone could turn the corner any moment now and spot them, after all, even with Haku's larger frame blocking out most of Eiri's. Someone could hear the sounds and come to investigate, as much as Haku's trying to keep his Messiah hushed. But that only adds to a certain thrill that only eggs Haku (perhaps because he isn't as afraid of the shameful consequences) on further, pushing just a little harder.)

Haku opens his eyes for a moment only to spot Eiri's expression from up close. It's an oddly concentrated frown, and he breathes into the other's mouth in amusement and endearment. With as vocal as Eiri is, it produces a moan from him in turn, and a moment later the hand on Haku's chest is smacking him (a difference from pushing, resisting, Haku knows, they've done this too often for him to not be able to tell the nuances in Eiri's behaviour) in retaliation for getting him that far in this situation.

Eiri is probably embarrassed enough about the possibility of being discovered that he'd want to cut it off, but at the same time too stubborn about winning to give up now-- that sounds like his Messiah.

His fingers dig a little harder into the top of the books they're pressed into at the thought. Not hard enough to damage them, he's too aware of just how precious those books are, if not just to him personally, to do that. But just enough to feel like he's connected to them.

Books, his Messiah - all right here, all connected to him so very physically that it almost feels like a weird thought to lose them. Haku's very used to pushing things away so he won't lose them, but for the moment he's content enough with that delusion of not being able to lose something when you hold onto it hard enough that he lingers like this, just watching Eiri trying to tone down the sounds they produce as much as he possibly can.

With the way Eiri bringing up his brother and other random questions all of a sudden lately, a strange nervous feeling has bubbled up in his stomach that he just wants to root himself into things for a moment. Even if that thing is, at the moment, kissing Eiri against a bookshelf in a library.

At least he's never claimed or thought his life was normal.

When they pull away, the shorter man's face is slightly flushed, and his hands move back to his collar to straighten his clothes and look as presentable as possible again.

"Are you ready to go back now?"

Eiri is saying it like nothing happened - but something did happen, because the situation's changed. Because this time, there's no debate.

Since even if he can't bring back the books with him, Eiri is the sort of book he can read over and over because it changes just a little each time, because it stays new no matter how many times he tries to read expression or action or intonation.

"Yeah."


End file.
